The common good and economics

This paper analyzes the meaning of the 'common good' and its impact on economics. It adopts the 'classical notion of the common good' which, conceived by Aristotle and further developed by Thomas Aquinas, has been widely used for centuries. Sections 2 and 3 introduce Aristotle�...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Crespo, Ricardo F.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/685350
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/685350
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cesjef.2015.09.001
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Capability approach
Common good
Happiness economics
Economía
Descripción
Sumario:This paper analyzes the meaning of the 'common good' and its impact on economics. It adopts the 'classical notion of the common good' which, conceived by Aristotle and further developed by Thomas Aquinas, has been widely used for centuries. Sections 2 and 3 introduce Aristotle's view on this notion, followed by Aquinas' developments. Section 4 addresses the different meanings of common good in the 20th century. Given that the classical version of the common good implies an anthropological position and a theory of the good, Section 5 extracts them from Aristotle's works, while Section 6 deduces policy implications from the previous definitions. Finally, Section 7 analyzes two current economic theories from the point of view of their relation with the common good: economics of happiness and the capability approach. The final section presents a brief conclusion.